About the Book

This volume of The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1883–1884 includes 178 letters, of which 117 are published for the first time, written from January 2, 1883, to January 29, 1884. The letters trace the development of Henry James’s literary career as well as the maturation of his international reputation as a public figure. They also record James’s recovery following the deaths of his parents and brother, the difficult execution of his father’s will, and his return to England from an extended stay in the United States. This volume concludes with James’s continuing efforts to maximize his writing income.

Author Bio

Henry James (1843–1916) was an American author and literary critic. He wrote some two dozen novels, including Portrait of a Lady and The Golden Bowl, and left behind more than ten thousand letters.Michael Anesko is a professor of English and American studies at The Pennsylvania State University. He is a general editor of The Cambridge Edition of the Complete Fiction of Henry James and the author, most recently, of Generous Mistakes: Incidents of Error in Henry James.Greg W. Zacharias is a professor of English and the director of the Center for Henry James Studies at Creighton University. He is the editor of A Companion to Henry James and the coeditor of Tracing Henry James.Katie Sommer has been an associate editor of the Complete Letters of Henry James series since 2007 and has worked on the Henry James letters project since 2001.Kathleen Lawrence is an editor for The Complete Fiction of Henry James.

Praise

Praise for earlier volumes in The Complete Letters of Henry James series:

“Rippling through these letters are the first imaginative stirrings of one of the greatest fiction and travel writers in the language. [James] was also one of the most entertaining—and prolific—correspondents. . . . These are richly enthralling letters.”—Peter Kemp, Sunday Times (London)

“This latest volume of the Complete Letters represents, no less than its forebears, an inestimable contribution to readers hitherto obliged to hunt down James’s letters in various selections or scattered archives, and deserves to be greeted with the same jubilant chorus of praise and gratitude.”—Alicia Rix, Times Literary Supplement

“This edition is not just notable for its astonishing ambition, however; even at this early stage, it must also be reckoned a signal achievement. By every measure, the volumes we have so far are simply outstanding in every major respect. . . . The result is an embarrassment of critical and biographical riches.”—Bruce Bawer, New Criterion

Table of Contents

The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1883-1884, volume 1, contains 173 letters, of which 115 are published for the first time. Each letter is followed by previous publication information or a note that there is no previous publication.

Acknowledgments Introduction: Restless Ambition; A Cosmopolite Author at the Height of His Powers, by Kathleen Lawrence Symbols and Abbreviations Chronology Errata

1883 January 2 To Florence Bayard Lockwood January 3 To James Ripley Osgood [January 4-April 5] To Isabella Stewart Gardner [January 5-April 6] To Isabella Stewart Gardner [January 5-March 31] To Lillian June Bailey Henschel [January 7-April 1] To Thomas Bailey Aldrich January 8 To William James [January 11] To Isabella Stewart Gardner January 11 To Robertson James January 11 To William James January 12 To Thomas Bailey Aldrich [January 14] To Thomas Bailey Aldrich January 23 To William James January 25 To William James January 26 To Helena de Kay Gilder January 27 To James Stoddart Bain January 27 To Frederick Macmillan [January 29] To Thomas Sergeant Perry [c. January 30] To Thomas Sergeant Perry February 1 To Frances “Fanny” Anne Kemble February 5 To Thomas Bailey Aldrich February 5 To Mary Elizabeth “Lilian” Woodman Aldrich February 5 To Caroline Dall February 5 To John Milton Hay February 5 To William James February 5 To Frederick Macmillan February 7 To William James February 11 To William James February 12 To Louisa Lawrence [February 12-June 11] To Grace Norton [February 18-August 12]To Grace Norton February 21 To George Washburn Smalley February 21 To John Wilson and Son February 23 To Thomas Sergeant Perry February 27 To Thomas Sergeant Perry February 28 To Marian “Clover” Hooper Adams March 2 To Houghton, Mifflin and Company March 5 To Rhoda Broughton March 5 To Unknown March 7 To Henry C. Ahlborn March 13 To Richard Watson Gilder March 15 To Sir George Henschel March 18 To Richard Watson Gilder March 20 To William Dean Howells March 27 To Elizabeth Boott March 29 To Frederick Macmillan March 30 To Alice Stopford Green April 2 To Edmund Gosse April 8 To Thomas Bailey Aldrich April 8 To James Ripley Osgood April 12 To Francis Boott [April 15] To Grace Norton April 17 To George Du Maurier April 18 To Julia Colt Pierson Emmet April 19 To Frederick Macmillan April 19 To James Ripley Osgood April 22 To Thomas Bailey Aldrich April 26 To Charles Hamilton Aïdé April 26 To Grace Norton May 2 To Robertson James May 2 To Houghton, Mifflin and Company May 2 To Grace Norton May 2 To Thomas Sergeant Perry May 4 To Lillian June Bailey Henschel May 5 To James Ripley Osgood May 5 To James Ripley Osgood [May 7-July 9] To Thomas Bailey Aldrich May 8 To Frederick Macmillan May 9 To Emma Lazarus May [13] To Emma Lazarus [May 17 or 24] To Grace Norton May 17 To James Ripley Osgood [May 20 or 27] To Grace Norton May 22 To James Ripley Osgood [c. May 23 or June 6, 13, 20, 1883] To Grace Norton May 24 To John Milton Hay May 24 To Grace Norton [May 25] To Grace Norton May 29 To Grace Norton June 1 To Grace Norton June 4 To Robertson James June 7 To Louisa Lawrence June 9 To Elizabeth Palmer Peabody June 10 To Charles Hamilton Aïdé June 11 To Frederick Macmillan June 15 To Annie Adams Fields June 15 To George Abbot James June 16 To Houghton, Mifflin and Company June 16 To Louisa Lawrence June 16 To Christina Stewart Rogerson June 16 To Hannah de Rothschild Primrose, Lady Rosebery June 16 To Ellen Twisleton Parkman Vaughan June 18 To Sir John Forbes Clark June 20 To Robertson James June 23 To George Pellew June 24 To Caroline Sturgis Tappan June 26 To Thomas Bailey Aldrich June 27 To Henrietta Reubell June 28 To Sarah Wyman Whitman July 8 To Thomas Sergeant Perry July 10 To Sir John Forbes Clark July 10 To George Abbot James July 10 To Benjamin Holt Ticknor [July 14] To George Abbot James [July 14] To Grace Norton July 18 To Thomas Bailey Aldrich July 21 To Thomas Bailey Aldrich July 22 To Thomas Bailey Aldrich July 22 To Whitelaw Reid July 26 To Francis Boott July 26 To George Abbot James July 27 To Whitelaw Reid July 28 To Grace Norton August 8 To Grace Norton August 8 To Whitelaw Reid August 10 To Thomas Sergeant Perry August 16 To Mary Cadwalader Jones August 17 To William James August 18 To John Milton Hay August 19 To Grace Norton August 21 To Sarah Wyman Whitman [after September 1] To Lady Louisa Erskine Wolseley September 2 To Emma Lazarus September 5 To Elizabeth Thompson [September 5, 1883-March 3, 1886] To Alice Stopford Green September 6 To Sir John Forbes Clark September 10 To Charles Eliot Norton September 10 To Benjamin Holt Ticknor September 15 To Thomas Bailey Aldrich September 20 To Thomas Bailey Aldrich October 1 To Theodore E. Child October 10 To Theodore E. Child October 10 To Sir John Forbes Clark October 10 To William James October 11 To Thomas Bailey Aldrich October 13 To Henrietta Reubell October 14 To Elizabeth Boott October 14 To Alice Stopford Green October 15 To John Eliot Bowen October 19 To Maurice Crawford Macmillan October 24 To Walter Herries Pollock October 24 To Christina Stewart Rogerson October 25 To William James October 27 To Louisa Lawrence October 29 To Grace Norton October 31 To James Ripley Osgood November 2 To Frederick Macmillan November 6 To James Ripley Osgood November 7 To Edmund Gosse November 8 To Ellen “Nellie” Epps Gosse November 14 To Thomas Bailey Aldrich November 14 To Grace Norton November 24 To William James November 25 To Thomas Sergeant Perry December 2 To Robertson James December 3 To Virginia Clark Waring December 8 To Lady Louisa Erskine Wolseley December 11 To Elizabeth Boott December 11 To Grace Norton December 11 To Dr. James John Garth Wilkinson December 12, [1883 or 1885] To Lady Louisa Erskine Wolseley December 12, [1883 or 1885] To Lady Louisa Erskine Wolseley December 13 To Circe [15 December 1883] To Dr. James John Garth Wilkinson December 17 To Alice Stopford Green December 26 To Editors of the <i>Galaxy</i> December 26 To Edmund Gosse

1884 January [1-29] To Mary Augusta Arnold Ward January 6 To Mary Morton Hartpence Sands January 7 To Alice Stopford Green January 15 To Lady Louisa Erskine Wolseley January 16 To Juliet Creed, Lady Pollock January 16 To William Ralston Shedden-Ralston January 19 To Grace Norton January 24 To Mary Morton Hartpence Sands January 25 To William James January 29 To Frederick Macmillan